Data-Driven Personalization of a Physiotherapy Care Pathway: Case Study of Posture Scanning (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Advanced sensor, measurement and analytics technologies enable entirely new ways to deliver care. Increased availability of digital data can be used for data-driven personalization of care. Data-driven personalization can complement expert-driven personalization by providing support for decision making, or even automating some parts of decision making in relation to the care process. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to analyze how digital data acquired from posture scanning can enhance physiotherapy services and enable a more personalized delivery of physiotherapy. METHODS A Case study is conducted with a company that has designed a Posture Scan Recording System (PSRS), which is an Information System (IS) that can record, measure and report human movement digitally to be used in physiotherapy. Data is collected through interviews with different stakeholders – healthcare professionals, healthcare users and the IS provider – and is analyzed thematically. RESULTS As the result of our thematic analysis, we propose three different types of support the posture scanning data can provide to enhance and enable more personalized delivery of physiotherapy. These types are: (1) Modeling the condition, which is about the use of posture scanning data for detecting and understanding the healthcare user’s condition and the root cause of the possible pain. (2) Visualization for a shared understanding, which is about the use of posture scanning data to inform and involve the healthcare user in more collaborative decision-making regarding care. (3) Evaluating the impact of the intervention, which is about the use of posture scanning data to evaluate the care progress and impact of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS The adoption of digital tools has remained low in physiotherapy. Physiotherapy has also lacked the digital tools and means that can be used to inform and involve the healthcare user in care in a person-centered manner. With the present study, we gathered insights from different stakeholders to provide understanding on how the availability of posture scanning digital data can enhance physiotherapy and enable more personalized physiotherapy. CLINICALTRIAL